But the service will be billed per second, said Ralf Ohlhausen, group products director.

Up to Tuesday, the company had not actually signed up anyone for the service which will only be accessible to owners of specific SonyEriccson and Nokia brands, but said more than 100,000 customers had viewed details about 'Digicel Live' on wapsdigicel.com.

CVM-TV and Hype-TV

For now, Digicel's mobile TV service will stream CVM-TV and Hype-TV programmes to subscribers to the service.

CVM is a national station, while Hype is a cable-based music station.

"We are currently in discussions with at least one other local provider and we expect these to be concluded and the channel live in the very near future," said Ohlhausen.

"Offered on a GSM/GPRS network, Digicel is the first mobile operator in the country to offer all live, all local mobile TV programming," he said.

The company, which refused comment on the size of the investment, plans to take the service regionwide, but is already offering roaming as a component.

Said Ohlhausen: "This service is very new and we are always looking at international best practice", sidestepping a query on whether there were any regulatory hurdles linked to roaming broadcasts.

The product manager also suggested that short term plans include programme diversification based on informal market feedback.

"We did informal checks with customers at different levels to gauge their interest in such a product as well as what they would like to see offered," he said.

"This was the basis on which Digicel chose to launch this service now with local TV content and with several different programming options to be added in 2007."

# Cellphones that can accommodate Digicel live
# Nokia 6630
# Nokia 6680
# Nokia 7610
# Nokia E50
# Nokia E70
# Nokia N70
# Nokia N71
# Nokia N91
# Sony Ericsson
# P800
# Sony Ericsson P900
# Sony Ericsson P910
# Sony Ericsson P990
# Sony Ericsson W950

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